How to Vet a Close Protection Company: A Corporate Buyer's Checklist

Hiring close protection is not like hiring a supplier. You are making a decision that affects the physical security of a person. Get it wrong and the consequences are not a delayed delivery or an invoice dispute.

The market has no shortage of companies that present well: professional websites, impressive client lists, military terminology in the biography section. Separating credible operators from marketing exercises requires specific questions and the willingness to reject answers that do not satisfy.

This checklist is written for corporate security directors, HNWIs, and personal assistants who are doing this for the first time or doing it more carefully than before.

Start with Licensing, Not Marketing

In England and Wales, every close protection officer must hold a current SIA Close Protection licence. This is not optional. Operating without one is a criminal offence under the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

The licence confirms that the individual has:

• Passed a criminal background check
• Completed the required Close Protection qualification (typically a Level 3 Award)
• Had their identity verified

The SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) applies to companies rather than individuals. ACS status means the company has been audited against quality and compliance standards. It is not mandatory for a company to hold ACS status, but companies that do have demonstrated consistent compliance. It is a meaningful differentiator.

Verify both the individual licence and company ACS status before any other conversation.

Ask for Proof, Not Assurances

Every company will tell you their operators are ex-military, fully vetted, and experienced in your specific threat environment. None of this is verifiable from a sales call.

What you can verify:

SIA licence numbers. Ask for the licence number of the specific operator(s) who would work on your detail. Check them on the SIA portal yourself. Do not accept a photocopy of a licence as verification.

Vetting standard. Ask which standard they apply. The baseline is the SIA check built into the licence process. Better is BS 7858 (British Standard for security personnel vetting), which adds employment history checks, financial checks, and character references over a 5-year period. The best operators apply BPSS or SC level vetting for principals with elevated risk profiles.

Insurance certificates. Ask for the current certificates for professional indemnity, public liability, and employers liability. The certificate should show the insurer, policy number, and coverage limits. A company that resists showing insurance certificates is a company with something to hide.

References from comparable engagements. Ask for references from clients with similar threat profiles, travel destinations, or event types to your requirement. General testimonials on a website are not the same as speaking to a security director who hired the company for a comparable brief.

Operational Questions That Matter

Beyond compliance, the quality of a close protection company shows in how it answers operational questions.

How do you conduct an advance? A competent team will describe a systematic pre-visit process: route reconnaissance, venue assessment, hospital identification, emergency contact establishment, local liaison. An operator who cannot describe their advance methodology in detail has probably not done it properly.

Who is the operations controller on my detail, and how do they communicate with the principal? There should be a named person responsible for operational decisions who is not the officer standing next to the principal. The brief for the principal should cover what to do if contact is lost.

How do you handle a medical emergency? This question reveals whether the operator has trained for the most common serious incident rather than the dramatic one. First aid level, nearest trauma hospital, communication protocol with the principal’s own medical team.

What is your protocol if an officer is incapacitated? Continuity planning matters. If the primary officer becomes unavailable mid-assignment, what is the response?

Red Flags

These are not definitive, but in combination they warrant serious caution.

• Cannot confirm SIA licence numbers for specific named operators
• Provides photocopied licences rather than directing you to the SIA portal
• Reluctant to supply insurance certificates
• All operator biographies describe military service with no detail of private security experience
• No named operations controller separate from the close protection officer
• Unable to describe an advance process
• Quotes markedly below market rate without explanation
• Uses phrases like “elite operators”, “tier one background”, or “covert capabilities” without substance behind them

Internal Links

For the service context behind this checklist, see our executive protection service overview and the about page for information on how CloseProtectionHire.com vets the operators in its network.